Investors to Spend Millions ‘Greening’ Commercial Buildings in Sacramento and Miami

Sacramento is one of two U.S. cities set to participate in a massive energy-efficiency project assembled by British business tycoon Richard Branson. The plan would pour an estimated $100 million into retrofitting commercial buildings in Sacramento. The company running the project is Ygrene Energy Fund of Santa Rosa. The other participating city is Miami, which is in line for $550 million in improvements. The plan relies on AB 811, a three-year-old state law that sets up a funding mechanism called PACE to retrofit homes and businesses. In this new effort, private dollars provided by investors would generate upfront cash for the retrofits, with building owners paying the improvements over 20 years through a special assessment on their property taxes.